


A Brief History of Baleton

by Atypicalgamergirl



Series: Old Man Daud [1]
Category: Dishonored (Video Games)
Genre: Baleton, Gristol, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-05
Updated: 2017-04-05
Packaged: 2018-10-15 06:10:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10551400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Atypicalgamergirl/pseuds/Atypicalgamergirl
Summary: A Brief History of BaletonBy Archibald Lee Cowan,City of Baleton Historian andHeadmaster at Baleton Common School





	

**Introduction**

Baleton is a market town in the westernmost point of Gristol, located roughly 400 miles north and west from Dunwall. Baleton has a population of rarely more than 2500 citizens in the town limits, with an unknown number of citizens living in the Wilds of the county limits. The surrounding county outside of the town limits is uninviting, and the habits of the people out in the Wilds are extremely private and primitive compared to the average urban citizen, or even the average Baleton citizen. Baleton is unique in Gristol in that its inhabitants have preserved many of the habits and traditions of older generations dating back to before modern recorded history, and continue to speak the primitive language of the Wilds throughout its history. Nearly every lifelong Baleton citizen speaks both Wilds and Isles Common, with a majority of communications in mixed company transpiring in Isles Common.

**Geography**

The town is a relatively small but ever-improving town, situated on a peninsula among the hills on the coast just north of a large bay. Mount Morien dominates the southern part of the bay, with the Baleton Gold Mine cut deep and stripped into its sides, disfiguring it for some and admired as the gem of the city by others. The Blaidd Strid cuts narrow but deeply just north of Baleton through the peninsula and flows into the ocean on the west coast at the Port of Baleton. The Strid is renowned throughout the Isles for its uniquely dangerous nature. No one who falls in will make it out alive, and in fact any man or animal who has fallen in has never been recovered. It is speculated that the narrow Strid measures its depth in many untold fathoms and leads down to a series of deep underground seas. In what may seem a strange custom to others from the Isles, Baleton and the surrounding Wilds have, for many generations consigned their dead to the Strid in a unique form of ‘burial by sea’.

South of the town center is the well-sheltered harbor situated in a sandy bay with two miles of beach surrounded by Mount Morien on the south, with hilly land leading up and around to the high cliffs of Gwynn upon which sit the Lighthouse at the Gwynn Overlook, and the remains of the Castle Traehorne – the last remaining legacy of the aristocratic ruling family who immigrated from Tyvia to Baleton in 1725. Within the bay are small archipelagos accessible only by boat that house handfuls of rustic historic cottages and larger vacation homes available to tourists who wish to indulge in solitude, as well as rest and relaxation. The small islands are well-maintained by a small live-in staff that are primarily descended from the original families who had lived on the islands, and retain much of their cultural and ethnic identity. The long-timers on the small islands are known colloquially as ‘High Tiders’. The original island families were groups of fishermen and sailors who emigrated from all over the Isles, looking for a homeland that would remain largely independent of the mainland. The isolation and insulation of the generations produced a dialect that to this day requires close listening and slow speaking to gain a decent understanding. For many generations, the archipelagos were considered to be the marine equivalent of the Wilds with few outlanders making contact outside of routine business transactions. Within the past 25 years, the archipelagos – with the cooperation and enthusiasm of the remaining island families have grown into a thriving tourist attraction.

**Ancient History and Spiritual Matters**

While Baleton does not have a leaning toward Old Magic or other dark arts, ample evidence exists to show that before recorded history it was prevalent. The region encompassing Baleton is thought to have been frequented by ancient cultists on account of gentle mounds, weathered cairns and remains of henges in the vicinity still visible in the Wilds, and various cultist artifacts discovered by natural philosophers and treasure seekers: urns, remains of flint blades, stone beads, and the odd carved bone or ivory charm. Old Magic is fallow in Baleton, but is steeped in its very soil and history, in the bones of the people and creatures of ancient times that moulder deep underground. The very nature of the poisonous Hemlock that grows in Baleton lends itself to legend and tales of horror and magic. As for traditional spiritual leanings, The Abbey of the Everyman and The Sisters of the Oracular Order do not have an official presence in Baleton, but it is not unusual for Brothers of the Abbey to travel to Baleton to retrieve and further study newly unearthed artifacts from the Wilds and surrounding areas.

**Famous Visitors**

While having at least one infamous citizen, there have been visits from equally famous ones. Finlay Morgengaard I held a grand triumphal festival as part of a victory tour here in 1625, to celebrate the conquest of Gristol. In the same year it was established as a town by the Emperor, but never obtained any considerable degree of prosperity in comparison to Dunwall. In the years following, Baleton has been visited regularly by the assorted royalty and aristocrats of Gristol for periods of rest and relaxation by the unspoiled waters of the Bay. In 1839, the inventor and visionary Piero Joplin, renowned for his work in ending the Rat Plague in Dunwall, travelled to Baleton and stayed for a period of several weeks, overseeing the Gwynn Overlook Lighthouse alternative power initiative and remodel.

**Manufacturing and Trade**

Baleton has some manufacturing, and but little trade - the chief exports being gold, salted and smoked dried fish and eels, and Hemlock essence. The fisheries are located primarily on the bay side, with many markets available for fresh catches, with the majority of catches being processed, salted and smoked – preferred packing is in waxed paper and again in brown paper to preserve the texture and taste of the dried smoked fish. Canning is not a consideration in Baleton, as the people here generally find tinned fish and eels slimy and distasteful. The Hemlock fields are maintained south of the Blaidd Strid, nestled in where the Strid splits, and the harvested flowers and seeds are carted on the Olde Strid Path to the processing plant on the western shore of Baleton. The Hemlock processing facilities are tucked into a small cove – neatly surrounded and supported by the Port of Baleton. The waste from the plant is dumped into the water in this small cove, safely away from the recreational waters of the bay. Algae blooms are common in the port because of the processing materials used and discarded with the hemlock slurry. Vivid yellow-green swaths of algae cover the water in the warmer months. Ship ballast and other assorted Port waste make the Port cove a dangerous place for any but the hardiest and thickly-scaled fish to swim – fish which tend to be tenaciously carnivorous.

Gold was discovered around 1750 in Baleton. The Baleton Gold Mine was fully established in 1820 and is located in the southern curve of the bay. In 1825, Empress Jessamine Kaldwin 1 was presented with a sizeable ingot of solid Baleton gold, carved with her name, likeness and inauguration date as an inauguration gift from the employees and owner of the mine. In addition to benefits from providing materials for currency throughout Gristol, the Baleton economy was boosted by this rush to export gold for gilding, decorative accents, and various jewelry or fine dining items. By 1850, two hundred people were employed at the site, the gold being extracted by driving horizontal tunnels deep into the mountainside, with the miners working deep underground by whale-oil lamps, and later surplus Floodlights (commonly known as Rat Lights) from Dunwall used for their brightness rather than repelling rats. Since the rat plague ended in Dunwall, rats are all but non-existent in Baleton except for the common wharf rats that seem to populate all ports non-discriminately. The bright Floodlights have much improved visibility, and moreover productivity, in the mines. The machinery for the mines is powered by water wheels and water turbines with the extra boost from the great windmills along the ragged but substantial faces of Mount Morien. Currently the mine is owned by Rhys Pritchard Davies, who is known as the "Baleton Gold King". Baleton contracts City Watch guards from Dunwall to protect and guard the mine and its employees.

Baleton offers a variety of local businesses which meet the needs of citizens and tourists alike. The Stridside Curious Goods store, owned and run by the quiet and well-traveled gentleman Herne Merrock – with goods from thrift, to the mundane like books and paintings to the extraordinary – artifacts from no less than Pandyssia. The Worley family runs the Baleton Grocery and produce stands throughout Baleton, and provide the citizens of Baleton with local and imported foods to suit all tastes. William Morris Wilde and family run Wilde’s Drapery & Togs, which supplies and repairs clothing from all walks of life. Other businesses of interest are Anne Bonny’s Bakery, and Baleton Apothecary. The town, which originally was a poor fishing village, has seen considerable architectural improvements of late years, and has several good houses and businesses, though not one good inn. The Old Philosopher’s Flask, which operates as the lone public house and inn, is still irregular, straggling, and rather dirty. The local citizens seem to prefer it this way. They are curiously attached to both the usual and the unusual fare at the inn, with its strange liquor concoctions and the many women young and old that live in the upper floor of the inn and provide aid and comfort to locals, tourists and travelers as well. Tourism is a small, but important part of the Baleton economy. The well-kept two-mile stretch of sandy beach in the bay remains pristine and popular with families from Baleton and tourists from other areas. The steady fresh sea air provides a bracing and refreshing barrier to the pungent stench of the Hemlock processing.

**Improvements and Growth**

Some years ago a plan was formed in Dunwall for improving this small and promising town, by planning to fund and build a major port to rendezvous shipments through Baleton to various parts of Tyvia, Gristol and Serkonos. In 1805, Emperor Euhorn Jacob Kaldwin I awarded funds to local Baleton contractors to erect a substantial pier and other necessary works to complete the port. It incorporated the existing Baleton Hemlock Processing Plant and surrounding small cove, and Hemlock essence became a much sought-after export thanks to expanded shipping capabilities. In the latter part of 1838, the Gwynn Overlook Lighthouse had begun to malfunction and through a series of correspondences between the Baleton Council and Council for Empress Emily Kaldwin, was chosen as part of an experimental alternative-power initiative and was repaired and renovated with new technology in 1839. The old clouded crystal lenses were replaced with far superior and longer-lasting Joplin prototype lenses, and the whale-oil power system was gutted and replaced with hydro-wind power. To this day, the Gwynn Overlook Lighthouse boasts one of the brightest beacons across the Isles and serves as a fitting memorial to Piero Joplin, one of the brightest minds of our time. In 1850, a large study pier and recreational dock was built in the bay. The pier is a popular spot for strolling and fishing alike.

Once a quiet fishing village with scant homes and a tight town center, Baleton continues to enjoy the development of new neighborhoods and homes ever further (and cautiously) out into the Wilds. Every year, new homes are available for the growing population and with time, new centers of commerce. Baleton is becoming a place to come to make a new home and a new life, instead of the place to leave to find new life in more urban areas of Gristol. As transit becomes more accessible throughout the Isles, Baleton expects to see further growth as a result.

During the rail-carriage and rail-car mania and boom in the mid-to-late 1840’s the Empress Emily Kaldwin had publicly considered plans to work with the Duke of Serkonos and his grand inventor Kirin Jindosh to expand travel capabilities by creating a system of grand carriages, much more sturdy and substantial than most carriages - designed to transport bulk goods and larger numbers of passengers. The plan was to extend the rail-carriage and rail-car systems further into Gristol with a stop in Baleton to boost tourism and the local economy.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, the project was shelved in 1852 and seemingly abandoned. There has been some talk and rumor from Serkonos in the past two years that prototypes for larger-scale carriages have been built and tested but no word on a timeline for implementation. Even more curious are the whispers of flying carriages as part of the transit system, but there has been neither confirmation nor denial of any such flying carriages.

The curious retirement of Kirin Jindosh in 1852 has all but assured that any mass transit system (flying or otherwise) would be very long in the coming, however, as Mr. Jindosh himself refuses to contribute even so much as a single idea to the mass-transit project. Any attempt to interview or speak with Mr. Jindosh about this matter, or any matter of mechanical progress is met with indifference at best and nonsense at the worst. Disappointingly, he no longer cares to share his genius and will go so far as to convincingly pretend to be daft to ward off the especially curious. Were mass transit to find a solid hold, no doubt it would transform not only Baleton, but the rest of Gristol as well.

**Governance**

Baleton was once governed by aristocracy, which ended with the death of the last of the Traehorne heirs. In recent times, the whole of the family line was whittled down to but a single remaining member: Prince Llewellyn Madryn Traehorne – said to have been a student at the Academy of Natural Philosophy, since deceased. There are rumors of a lost heir – a illegitimate son of the deceased Prince got by an employee of the infamous Golden Cat during one of his many trips to Dunwall in the late 1700’s prior to his death in 1801, but they are generally disregarded as idle rumor as to date no claims to lineage have been filed. The exact events surrounding his death are unknown and lost to history, but local legend has it that he was killed during one of the worst storms in Baleton’s history when he was struck by lightning atop one of the bastions of the castle while attempting to harness it for reasons about which can only be speculated. The Castle was nearly completely destroyed by the sheer numbers of massive lightning strikes, and his body was speculated to have been burned so badly as to leave no remains to recover. The ruins of the Castle have been largely left to the elements, and serve as a somber memorial to the last of the aristocratic rulers in Baleton.

Baleton now runs under the rule and protection of the Town Council, headed currently by Gryffid Willems, along with his various council members who work under his advisement. The town operates on a system of fair taxation, which to date has only been corrupted a handful of times in its existence – certainly not since the death of the last Traehorne Prince. Taxes fund the Common School, the Baleton Barbershop and Surgery, and the Baleton Power Works – which build and maintain the windmills, water turbines and water wheels that power Baleton, and keeps clean potable water flowing into the homes and businesses of the town. Life is simple in Baleton, with little distinct hierarchy of classes and no desire to live above another’s means. This relative egality has kept taxes low, and overall satisfaction with life in Baleton high. There is a loosely-knit privately run parcel, post and courier service based in Baleton that sends and receives communications throughout Gristol. Plans are to consolidate and create a unified city service by 1860, but up ‘til now the citizens prefer to have choice of various types and services of delivery.

**Law Enforcement, Medical and Rescue**

Major crimes and tragedies are nearly unheard of in Baleton. There is a Baleton Town Watch, which operates similarly to the City Watch in Dunwall, but with a gentler approach to law-keeping. Murder has happened a few times over the history of Baleton, but generally stemming from domestic disputes. Mass- or serial-murder is unheard of. There is the usual amount of petty crime in Baleton: thievery, disturbing the peace, public urination and the like. Baleton has long had various gangs of local youth over the years that commit a majority of the petty crime – of late being a ragged group of dirty youth calling themselves The Wharfe Rats, but nothing on the scale of the notorious gangs of the urban centers of Gristol: Bottle Street Gang, Dead Eels, Hatters, Roaring Boys or Howlers to name a few and certainly nothing as notorious as the infamous Whalers from Dunwall. Members from the various urban gangs do stop off in Baleton from time to time when ships from afar come into the port but nothing has ever come of it except the occasional import of shankers into the ‘Flask from time to time. Occasionally a so-called Wharfe Rat will disappear with them, presumably recruited into a larger life of crime, to no great loss to Baleton.

Medical care and Coroner services are operated out of the Baleton Barber and Surgery. Tragedies in Baleton are not unheard of. The town has had the expected number of drownings and strid accidents over the years. The most unusual tragic death was perhaps the purported death by lightning of the last Traehorne Prince. Perhaps the most infamous tragic incidence in recent times was the dreadful suicide of young Rose Everleigh, who threw herself from the Gwynn Overlook Lighthouse to her death on the rocks at the bottom of the cliffs in 1838.

The Coroner’s office handles any deaths that occur under unnatural circumstances, and helps oversee the legal processes prior to interment. Baleton and the surrounding areas of the Wilds have, since recorded history, taken to Strid burials rather than the ancient practice of burying the dead in the soil. In the event of accidental deaths, or other deaths otherwise unnatural the Coroner’s office will send officials to examine the body and record any findings, and will then release the body back into the care of the family or next of kin to prepare for the Strid burial. Traditional Strid burials are a somber and dignified event, complete with the ceremony and respect of typical ground burials. While the Abbey does not recognize the spiritual validity of, or participate in the burials by giving honors, they respect the custom and do not interfere. There are options available from local sources to those who wish to have dignitaries and spiritual figures speak at the funerals of their loved ones.

**Education**

The Common School of Baleton was officially established in 1830 thanks to generous contributions and support by Empress Jessamine Kaldwell. The school is open to children and adults who wish to refine themselves through skills learned to better their stations in life. Courses include but are not limited to: Reading and Orthography, Mechanical Orthography and Printing, General Mathematics, Cartography, and the General Sciences. In addition, the Common School works with businesses and industries across the Isles to supply those students interested with apprenticeships and internships to accompany their studies. Such advancement of skills can lead to greater opportunities to more quickly integrate into the higher stations both locally and abroad. Thanks to the generosity of Empress Emily Kaldwin, the Common School was gifted in 1850 with a set of six newly-built typewriters with which the school uses for the teaching of Mechanical Orthography. The town’s weekly newspaper, The Baleton Ledger operates out of the Common School and shares its modest typesetting equipment and presses to the betterment of students wanting to learn the printing trade.

Despite years of growth and change in Baleton and throughout Gristol, the town has maintained much of its original character – itself a curiosity and delight for tourists accustomed to a more urban lifestyle. As we look forward into the dawning of a new century, Baleton strives to continue the pattern of grown and development that is sweeping Gristol and the surrounding Isles. Be assured that even as we change and grow, the citizens of Baleton are committed to preserving the customs and quirks that have made Baleton what it is today and look forward to many more years of peace and prosperity.

**Author's Note:**

> This will appear in the appendix of Old Man Daud to give context to the setting, and the history of the town.


End file.
